Climate Change May Unearth Cold War-Era Nuclear Waste Stored by the U.S. in Other Countries

A new report finds that melting ice and rising sea levels could disturb radioactive contamination left over from American nuclear tests after World War II

Tara Wu
Reporter
March 6, 2024



Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands contains radioactive waste from U.S. activity during the Cold War. A new report says climate change may cause its contaminants to enter the environment. U.S. Department of Energy


Rising global temperatures could unearth Cold War-era nuclear waste created by the United States and stored in other countries, posing potential issues for the environment and local inhabitants, according to a new report.

An assessment conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released earlier this year examined nuclear waste in the Marshall Islands, Greenland and Spain, three locations with radioactive contamination resulting from American nuclear activity in the decades following World War II. Climate change could cause this nuclear waste to enter the environment, as warming temperatures melt ice sheets that contain radioactive liquid and raise sea levels that could pollute food and water sources with toxic waste, per the study.

This lingering contamination came from nuclear weapon detonations, including hydrogen bombs, and accidents at numerous sites around the world. Often, the U.S. government stored this waste near the sites of detonation, Robert Hayes, a nuclear engineer at North Carolina State University, says to Julia Jacobo of ABC News. In Greenland, officials disposed of nuclear waste in the ice sheet, and in the Marshall Islands, they placed it in a container with a concrete cap.

“The military was in the rush of the Cold War,” Hayes tells the publication. “In hindsight, they could have done a better job.”

More:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/climate-change-may-unearth-cold-war-era-nuclear-waste-stored-by-the-us-in-other-countries-180983901/